#ao the best cosplayer

[the-great-empress]

Ao is love. Ao is live

And whoever hurts her should sleep with one eye open.

[heatsu]

Magnificon day 3!!

[knightwithakay]

Now that I've finally had time to sit down and read it, please allow me to recommend Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Best!

A gloriously multicolor sci-fi queer romance accurately pitched as "Knives Out in space", this book has a cast of characters all worthy of their own spin-offs and a cleverly ticking mystery at its heart.

You can read the plot bits elsewhere, I won't get bogged down in em. Here's what I love: this is sci-fi with a beating heart. In Stars, Hide Your Fires no one is an island, even in space; I was strongly reminded of Becky Chamber's Wayfarers, with its complex and complicated communities of people who are just trying to make it through the day. (The space day. It is, still, a sci-fi novel, with delightful diversions on the food they eat, the way transit works, interplanetary commerce, and of course, space cussin'.)

Our hero is charming, and practical, and relatable, and funny sometimes to her own detriment, and has some growing to do. Our romance is complicated For Plot Reasons, but built on mutual respect and admiration and food-sharing (not how you'd expect!). Our perspective is one in which we have all the clues, if we can put them together fast enough-- for one delightful moment I was one step ahead of Cass as I called a plot twist, only to realize with dawning horror exactly what that meant for the narrative--

Our story is one with a satisfying ending and room still for expansion. I know I'll enjoy going back to this one again and finding all the hints I missed, and just living in this universe for a little while.

Recommended for: Fans of The Starship Iris (duh), Becky Chambers readers, people with intense feelings about AOS Jim Kirk, anthropologists disappointed by lazy sci-fi cultures, lesbians with a competence kink, cosplayers who enjoy a challenge, and you, if you're reading this.

Oh, why is this an audio post? Because this is a song based on the book we recorded and I thought it would be neat. :)

[eclecticmuses]

hi there! i'm a big fan of your cosplays, especially for jemma simmons, and i think it's amazing the collection you have for her! i was wondering if you would ever make a list of all the identified items for her by episode so that newer cosplayers and collectors of her, like myself, would be able to search for them. thank you so much!!

Hey! Thank you for your kind words about my Jemma costumes! Making a dedicated resource for all of Jemma’s indentified clothing is something I have definitely given thought to before. mcufashion used to be the best resource there was out there (and I was on staff) but the owner deleted the blog some time back so it’s gone. And there are sites out there like wornontv and shopyourtv but their sections for AoS are far from comprehensive and missing a ton of information.

So yeah, I’ve given making a new sideblog and posting all of the information I still have archived some thought. I was talking last night with one of my friends who can code custom themes for Tumblr and I think we’re going to give it a shot. It’s going to be a lot of work but hopefully it’ll be useful for people who are interested in cosplaying Jemma. I’ll make a post when it eventually goes live!

[taotrooper]

Q&A with Kusanagi-sensei at the Manga Barcelona con

Kusanagi Mizuho was a guest on the Barcelona con 2019 and she had a panel with the fans this morning where they asked her some questions. None of them are plot-related, sadly (I suspect the questions sent by fans were heavily filtered to avoid spoilers). But if you’re curious about the personal and professional stuff she’s said, and her opinion about her characters, here’s a translation of the livetweeting by the manga’s publisher, Norma Editorial, which is here. I’m also complementing with Ramen Para Dos’ liveblogging.

Kusanagi requested not to have her picture taken. Except for those lucky few Spaniards and Catalanes who attended the panel, she’ll remain a meerkat to us. (Parenthesis notes are my commentary, not part of the interview!)

Q. When did you decide to start drawing?

A. She started to draw when she was around 9-10 years old. She’d make up complete stories she’d read her younger sister --who also came to the con.

Q. What was her favorite manga back then? And now?

A. She really liked Slam Dunk, Hana Yori Dango, and Ranma 1/2 when she was little. It seems she’s into redhead protagonists, Norma jokes. Right now she likes One Piece and Attack on Titan.

Q. Did she study in any sort of academy? Has she worked as an assistant? 

A. She went to art school (she specifies not manga, art) and was an assistant after graduating for 4-5 years.

Q. What does she currently delegated to her assistants?

A. She works with 4-5 people. They take care of drawing landscapes, armor, plates of food, extra things... They also help a lot with combat scenes: she’s the one who draws the basic battle panels but they finish them.

Q. Does she find it hard to make it to deadlines?

A. She laughed. Handing in chapters is so hard because she takes a long time to design the story, so she only dedicates 3 or 4 days to draw 30 pages because she has no time left.

(Yikes, poor Kusanagi D: )

Q. Does she like to listen to something or snack while she works? 

A. When she’s working on the story she needs total silence and being alone, but while she draws she likes to put on anime or movies or music as background noise.

Q. Where does Ao keep her acorns?

A. Squirrels usually carry 7 acorns in their mouths. Ao brings 10 at least!

(Oh no, she’s too OP!!!!)

Q.  Hak or Soo-Won? 

A. She laughs and assures us she has a lot of love for both of them.

Q. How did she come up with the manga’s setting?

A. At first she thought about basing it on Rome or Japan, but it didn’t fit. So in the end she combined different Asian scenarios to give birth to AkaYona.

(So... yeah, it’s not 100% Three Kingdoms Korea, it’s a hybrid. Also lol she really likes Rome, huh?)

Q. Does she have a favorite character? 

A. NE: She doesn’t have a favorite, she loves all of them and loves to draw them so they look as good-looking as possible when they look at themselves in the mirror.

RP2: When she creates a story centered in one character, she tries to focus all details on said character. But she feels appreciation for all characters in Akatsuki no Yona. Then there’s a character’s personality or some enemy that’s not liked by the audience and that motivates her to draw them more handsome.

(Well, that sure explains Keishuk becoming more luscious lately, but THEN THERE’S GOBI’S CRAZY FACES.....................)

Q. Does she feel identified with any of her characters?

A. All of her characters reflect part of her own idols so they don’t really represent her that much.

(Damn, there she goes debunking the Kusa-relates-to-SW jokes)

Q. Which dragon would she take on a journey if she had to go on adventures like Yona?

A. She’d like to take the four of them but if she had to choose she’d pick Jae-Ha. He’s kind to women and he can jump really high!

(Jae-ha bias confirmed. We been knew, sensei, we been knew.

“HE JUMP” - Mizuho Kusanagi, 2019)

Q. The reveal of Zeno’s powers is one of the most amazing scenes in the series. How was it for her? 

A. She was looking forward to drawing it. She doesn’t like its brutality but it was necessary to express its importance. Regardless, she enjoyed it a lot.

Q. How does she feel about thinking of Yona as a strong, inspirational female character?

A. NE says that to her Yona is an ordinary girl, what makes her special is that she’s a fighter (the wording here is implied to be in a hardworking, fighting daily way, not as a warrior necessarily). Life taught her to be strong and positive and she thinks that’s very important. RP2 says that the character herself is normal but to her, Yona’s strength and courage to move forward is what stand out and inspires.

She got an ovation from the audience at this point :’)

Q. How does she feel about having so many fans overseas? 

A. She’s very happy and grateful! She’s so surprised to see so many people (women and men) around the world and outside of Japan who understand and enjoy Yona’s vision. She thanks us all so much!

(Aww~)

Q. What does she do in her free time?

A. She loves to spend time with her cat. But she ends up annoying her cat sometimes, and she (the kitty) scratches her (Kusanagi) often.

Q. This one was for her editor, called Tokushige. Wat is it like to work with Kusanagi-sensei with a manga like Yona?

A. She says she knows the author’s job is very hard with a terrible pace and schedule. Despite that she has to be tough and mean to help Kusanagi with keeping the schedule and the quality. But while it’s touch she likes working with her/looks forward to it.

In the next part, they have Kusanagi ask the audience a question, and she throws the favorite character question back at them! There’s no recount of what people in the room said (besides the fact it took a long time for someone to say Hak and she remarked on that) but NE asked Twitter as well and you can see the answers on the thread.

(Since I slept through the interview, I missed the chance to tell her mine D: Shoutout to the MVPs in the thread who mentioned Yoon and Tae-jun in a sea of Haks and Yonas and Jae-has and Zenos. And the two cosplayers who went there as Argila and Vold!)

ETA: This livetweeting mentioning some characters the fans threw in. Yona, Hak, TAE-JUN several times, Soo-won, Geun-tae, Kija, squirrel Ao, and ship-wise besides HakYona there’s a Zeno/Kaya mention.

So anyway, that was all. Kusanagi brought presents for the selected people who won her signature (a case with Aos on it) plus a few more unknown presents (probably also those cases) to raffle on the Q&A with a jankenpon game. That was sweet of her!

Extra info I’ve seen: she had to take THREE planes to get to Spain from Kyushu. They also gave her her two consecutive awards to Best Shoujo by that same con, which they do yearly with the manganime that gets published here. They also gave her a soccer shirt of the famous local team (Barça) with her name on the back (10/Mizuho).

[ppgang]

Column Parade vol.1 “BiStory and beyond: gang parade!”

Starting 2019 we are introducing new projects, one of them being columns written by fans! Want to write something about GANG PARADE? Perhaps a review? Send us a message and we’ll post it in our blog!!

First one is a look in the group’s history written by cal (@konchugun), admin behind the jun togawa fansite!

BiStory and beyond: gang parade!

Hello and welcome to another timeline of one of the world’s best idol groups. “Know Your BiStory” talks about BiS so this time, we’re going to talk about what a certain bald member did afterwards.

Where we last left off, the BiS tour final and their breakup. They were performing to a sold out crowd of diehard fans, Brand-new idol Society were leaving their mark. 

And when one door closes, another opens. Manager Watanabe announced the start of Watanabe Artistic Creative Kabushikigaisha (Corporation) and their first act would be an idol duo featuring Saki Kamiya, the ex-cosplayer and all around vocal powerhouse popular with both men and women~ 

Just like BiS started with Pour Lui, this new group would start with Saki.

Watanabe already had the backing of thousands of rabid idol fans who were hungry from more, and Saki was a pretty popular member! Pre BiS she already had a name for herself as a cosplayer and model, apart of the Dolly-Style (or Dolly Kei) fashion community.

So… why not combine the two things Saki’s fanbase love her for into one to maximise the profit squeeze? The fusion of idols and otaku, enter… PLANIME/PLA2ME

Dressed like schoolboys at a sporting event in the year 3000, Saki was joined in late august 2014 by her new partner Mari Mizuta!

Mari already had a small but established fanbase as she used to perform as a solo idol under the name Izukoneko. She sound was very… electronic modern style technopop. If you’re familiar with solo idols, think Yufu Terashima (shoutout to leaving BiS!) but with significantly less budget.

They debuted together with the song “Plastic 2 Mercy” at Tokyo Idol Festival, and the music video released with the single was made of footage from that day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g75uL_YApIU

A far cry from BiS or even Mari’s solo work… Pla2me’s debut was drum machine heavy but with an almost synthpop twist on power-pop. The choreography for the song involved involves a lot of physical activity, unlike BiS songs with relatively simple choreo, Paprika now withstanding. Both girls are clearly using all of their strength and using all of that stage as much as they can.

Tokyo Idol Festival is, as you can guess, an idol festival. Typically for your regular idols (since alternative idols were still peeking through into the mainstream at this time), the kind that don’t headbang or have fans who engage in lunatic behaviour. Saki and Mari RAN from the stage, jumped the barrier and finished their performance in the middle of the crowd with a circle of fans around them pumping their fists and headbanging. Surprisingly there was no huge controversy surrounding this but the organisers weren’t happy. Idols aren’t meant to stage dive and fans aren’t meant to mosh even if you are an ex member of the legendary lineup of BiS. Saki encouraging un-idol like behaviour and fan misbehaviour at TIF would land her in some hot water in the future though, but we’ll get to that later~

So, Pla2me were off to a STRONG start and they were more than living up to their name too. The girls even cosplayed together!

They even performed as Ryuko and Mako!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWKNXspDDog

And if the love of anime and nerd culture wasn’t already enough, Pla2me also appeared in a Digimon game as promo for Plastic 2 Mercy:

See that incredibly blurry poster on the right there? That’s them! the other groups are other acts on T-Palette Records (the people releasing their songs in joint with WACK).

Pla2me started in late 2014 and they had a successful last quarter of the year, closing it with the emotional video to new song “UNIT”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8s4TjEUh94

Still their fresh power-pop inspired sound, UNIT is more of an emotional ballad where they talk about never wanting to leave each other, with the video being the two of them literally being chained together and climbing a mountain. 

In early 2015 the single was released proper, just like they said there’s no meaning if this unit can’t stay together… 

Well… Guess there’s no meaning then! Mari left.

Late into March, Mari was breaking up their unit. “Creative differences” were stated, but remember this isn’t BiS. Saki isn’t Pour Lui and Mari isn’t Yufu. The problem was that Mari lived in Osaka whereas Saki lived in Tokyo and Mari had to travel from Osaka to Tokyo and sleep at Saki’s apartment whenever they performed. Made worse by the fact that Pla2me weren’t getting booked in Osaka.  Saki felt bad about things, Mari had talked about how she was struggling and Saki said on her old blog she didn’t feel like she did enough to help her. But they’re still friends so no need to worry! And she still works as an idol albeit under a different group even to this day.

So, a hunt for new members began! Can’t perform as a solo idol if you only have 4 songs and one of them is about staying together with your friend! Watanabe announced that they’d be holding auditions for both girls AND boys. No boys passed the audition though so feminism wins once again.

Meet the new lineup! from left to right we have Maya Inukai, Miki Yamamachi, Saki Kamiya, Yua Yumeno and Ao Shigusawa! Pla2me was out, POP was in. standing for “Period Of Plastic 2 mercy”

Also spoilers Maya and Ao don’t survive. But they’re here for now!

Since Pla2me never released an album and they needed more promo than just a few solo shows and music videos here and there, POP came out with a full release relatively quickly called… POP!

If you’re an anime fan you’ll recognise this art style instantly: their album cover was drawn by Studio Trigger’s own SUSHIO! Turns out he’s actually a huge wack fan! He posts fanart of Gang Parade and BiSH on twitter too!

The album release was marked with a music video for “pretty pretty good”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K07xAFm7x-Y

How many idol groups debut their album by being hoisted from a crane in the middle of the night and being forced to sing while dangling hundreds of feet off the ground? The tradition of being un-idol like idols continues onwards. And yes the uniforms for this era were actually trash bags with chains.

Saki kind of makes it work honestly.

The above picture is actually from a now infamous event… remember Tokyo Idol Festival from last year? The new unit were performing there this year, three days prior to their album release! Remember how Saki managed to piss off the management with her stage diving and encouraging the fans to mosh? Well, there are more things that are basically forbidden at what would otherwise be a pop (not our kind) festival and Saki managed both herself break and encourage fans to break every last one of them.

“Mosh pits, excessive jumping, crowd surfing, touching audience members, removing shirts and throwing objects.”

If you’ve ever been to a rock show all of this might seem… commonplace! Which let’s be real when your fanbase is made up of fans of the disbanded alt-idol group who basically just said “fuck it” and removed any sense of decorum from being an idol they could, this is going to happen at your shows. The fans not only destroyed the stage but POP, notably Saki, helped them! BiSH were playing at the same festival too and their fans did similar things, which led to both groups getting ousted. Pity the janitor who had to pick up after these wild women~

While it’s a theory that Watanabe orchestrated this, as BiSH and their leader Aina the End encouraged similar behaviour albeit on a smaller scale, Saki acted of her own accord. The fans got rowdy and Saki got rowdier while knowing the consequences of this but did it anyway.

Even if this is a post BiS group, disciplinary action was still taken. Watanabe was probably not actually furious with Saki but she was indefinitely suspended from POP. The more time went on, the more pissed off fans were getting. This was Saki’s kingdom and they demanded an audience with their queen! 

Saki spent her time while barred from performing helping behind the scenes, effectively becoming a staff member. She helped with taking chekis (polaroid selfies) with other members while being unable to take them with fans herself. Fans were getting even more and more annoyed! So, watanabe gave her an ultimatum, she could rejoin POP…

…if she could complete a 24 hour 100km marathon!

Which sounds daunting but let’s be real, Saki is a young athletic woman. The choreography for Plastic 2 Mercy basically incites violence and you need to be in shape to be a model/cosplayer. There’s also the fact that during a BiS marathon in 2013, Saki was the only one that actually finished.

Saki finished her 100km jog with two hours to spare and returned to her royal court. Just in time to conveniently release their new single! The music video and promo shots of which all contained Saki despite the fact they would have had to be filmed and shot when she was “suspended”. Makes you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWOPysoZI2k

“Happy Lucky Kirakira Lucky” was another fast paced aggressive techno-post-power-pop (those are all real genres I promise) bop with a sugary sweet twist. The video shows off the choreography along with… some puppets! Drop some new music Miss Piggy, POP are here.

So, we end 2015 with some destruction, an album and new single! Just as Pla2me went to POP, they also went from strength to strength.

The next major release was another single: Queen of Pop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnkR0oIYWGk 

Another release in their trademark sound which i’m running out of adjectives for, the music video is… I don’t know. There’s morph suits and faux religious symbolism. They had fun with it though!

As was the trend so far, new year, new name! POP were now GANG PARADE. Saki and Watanabe were toying with the idea of a name change and adding new members for a while, and the words that came up the most were “gang” and “parade” so hey let’s just stick them together! Time went by and the name would become more apt but for now: the next single.

“WE ARE the IDOL”

New uniforms, new hair for Saki but… the same sound! WE ARE the IDOL was still typical of a POP era song despite the name change. The music video however was more in tune with the direction they’d be travelling in creatively: it’s very theatrical and heartfelt with some very professional camerawork and cryptic messages written in English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFEIW0k_5u8

Shortly after, Ao’s time with Saki and friends came to a close. She had to withdraw from the group due to a lack of support from her family. We don’t know where she is now, but with or without her family’s support we can hope at least she’s having fun.

The heartbreak doesn’t end here though, Maya had to leave too for family reasons, though hers were more understandable. Her dad’s health had been declining and it was up to her to look after him. Gang Parade had her sisters, but her father needed her more.

Gang Parade as “Gang Parade” really starts here. Between the two members leaving, BiS had reformed and scouted new members. How is this relevant to Gang Parade you ask? Well, the girls who were talented but didn’t make the cut for BiS were placed into a sister group called… SiS. Creative, right? 

And of course everything went as planned and SiS to this day have a long career as BiS’ rivals and- just kidding! They disbanded after one show. They disbanded literally less than a single day after the show. Allegedly for their manager (the other manager, not Watanabe) mismanaging something or other.

The SiS girls didn’t become outright unemployed however, three of them were moved to Gang Parade (the fourth works at a clinic in Tokyo now and also entered a modelling contest. Honestly if my idol group broke up after about 12 hours i’d not want to continue as an idol either) and debuted almost right away!

But before the SiS girls were added, new girl Can Maika came along in early October. during Maika’s debut, moshing and stage diving were banned at Gang Parade lives but recording was 100% okay. If you know anything about Japanese music venues, this is genuinely incredibly rare and as a result basically every gang parade live gets posted on YouTube in about 4K HD where you can see the sweat dripping off of Saki’s head.

They also revealed that Gang Parade fans had their own name! Asobinin, which in English you could call… Players! Like a playboy but there’s no gender associated with it, so think a player of love, sleazy, likes to have fun more than they like to work, a layabout… a kind of immoral name for fans of the kind of immoral idols.

So of course now that we have a large troupe of girls, it should be time for an album right? Absolutely! Gang Parade’s “Barely Last” arrived shortly after:

Though if you can count you might notice that there’s a few girls missing… The album was recorded and the promo material all shot before the SiS girls arrived. That’s Can Maika in the orange there. She didn’t get to wear the new uniform for long because promo for the album basically started and ended in a flash, they couldn’t promo something with three of the members missing! The album didn’t even get any music videos.

If I had to describe the sound, it’s basically a stepping stone between the power-pop of POP to the chaos that would become Gang Parade’s trademark.

So a month later… Gang Parade was finally more in tune with how “Gang Parade” are now. To celebrate, they released Plastic 2 Mercy again in December of 2016 

Let’s meet the new girls! Please ignore Satan on the left there. From the left we have: dear leader Saki Kamiya (sporting the longest her haircut has been in about 3 years), the quirky and curious Yui Ga Dockson (who’s name is apart of the first thing Buddha said upon being born. “ I alone am honoured ”), the rich girl with a heart of gold: Coco Partin Coco (who’s name is a dick joke because tinco means cock), our old friend: Yua Yumeno, the gravure perfectionist who sure can: Can Maika, the adorable sea otter fanatic: Yuka “Yuyu” Terashima and squatting on the floor sporting the green highlights in her hair that haven’t left since: Miki Yamamachi! 

Plastic 2 Mercy even got another music video, featuring the girls making a nuisance of themselves in the streets and being coated in a plastic-like substance while spooning one another. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81rF2jZpB7g

So roll on 2017! Gang Parade are finally the “Gang Parade” they were destined to be and they started performing without a hitch and- just kidding again. This is a group run by an egomaniac remember.

Gang Parade were kicking off 2017 after a long period of touring (which they basically do constantly, GP are genuinely the hardest working WACK group) with a new single! “FOUL”! This also marks a period of… Dockson shaving off her eyebrows and painting new ones on with glitter. For somebody named after the Buddha talking about singularity and serenity she is certainly a deeply chaotic individual.

But chaos is fitting for Gang Parade! The song is slow but it’s heavier than they’ve done before, stepping from power-pop and fusing that with almost synth rock. The music video is a callback to “pretty pretty good”, starting in the same construction yard three of the girls were suspended from a crane in and ending with Saki shaving her hair off in a Tokyo backstreet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6NCSt3dLug

The song is also the source of the phrase “body and 7soul”, which is a huge part of Gang Parade’s identity. Well until they add more girls and they have to rerecord it and change it to “body and 9soul” but that comes later.

If you’ve read “Know Your BiStory” the next part wont come as a surprise, but as a preface 2017 is where WACK as a company starts to get a little… wacky. A temporary rental trade of members was announced! Queen Saki was leaving her kingdom once again to go back to BiS in exchange for Aya Eightprince.

Of course the fans rioted just like when Saki was absent during the POP days and demanded th-I can’t keep pulling these bait and switches. Aya was welcomed to Gang Parade with open arms by both the fans and her new sisters!

In fact, Aya loved being in Gang Parade so much she actually talked about how much she hated being in BiS because of how disrespectful and rude the leader Pour Lui was to everyone - especially her. Gang Parade felt… right for Aya - and the fans felt so too! Of course everyone missed Saki but Aya’s presence in the chaos just worked well. She started touring around with them almost instantly and after a few months, it was time for a new single

Beyond the Mountain! Gang Parade had heartfelt ballads and fast paced songs before but this is #that song. The song that pierces your chest and makes you want to scream the lyrics while crying. About broken promises and broken hearts but, despite being left alone, you should smile. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdsASPb4l4Q

And of course promo for this included new member Miss Aya. That’s her on the bar stool looking curious. 

And what was Saki doing? On a single in her traded group too but also probably kissing Kika.

During the next few months, Gang Parade and BiS went on a joint tour together where it was announced the rental trade would be extended! Then in October, more label clownery happened and the shuffle unit/supergroup “SAiNT SEX” debuted with their only song. SAiNT SEX featured Aya, Saki, Miki and Yua along with various BiS and BiSH girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CbRmVdd-Kk

Even while on a rental trade, the girls from both groups remained close with one another. For the time being.

After this it started to get a little more serious for Gang Parade in terms of promo: they were gearing up for a full album. Gang Parade’s first promo music video for the album was called… GANG PARADE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=100K-pSVWZM

The girls show off their new uniforms in a warehouse while dancing and well… it’s a good thing moshing was made forbidden at their shows because this song was their wildest to date. Aggressive synthy rock with a pre-chorus involving a lot of chanting which turns into an aria of screaming “GANG PARADE EVERYDAY”. Like i said, their most chaotic to date… until “IMINAI UTA” (pointless song) got a music video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxb88zX2FA

Following in the footsteps of the last song’s harsh sound, this is that but turned up to 11. Electronic screeching mixed with nonsensical lyrics shouted at you and a music video that combines glitch art with vaporwave, their new album was destined to be their most extreme yet. And on stage? It always starts with Coco doing cartwheels.

https://i.gyazo.com/3a8932dd671668b3078ae9be69f584e7

A few days later? “GANG PARADE takes themselves higher!!” arrived

And the name was more than apt, Gang Parade had elevated themselves in sound, image and status. A far cry from the original bubbly drum heavy technopop that Pla2me started with, Gang Parade’s sound can now be described as “sheer chaos”. From Beyond the Mountain to Iminai Uta, they were here to make noise, play with their fanbase of players and just generally revel in anarchy.

They also took themselves higher with their status in the industry - Gang Parade were stepping out of the shadow of “ex BiS group led by Saki Kamiya” and were being written about just as “Gang Parade” - you can even find interviews from the time translated on the English Gang Parade fansite pretty pretty GANG (this advertisement is non-sponsored)!

At the very end of the year, the “Wack and Scrambles” album was released featuring SAiNT SEX. The album also came with voting codes so fans could vote for which members they would want to get a solo debut single. Since BiSH are the most popular wack group, Aina the End placed in first. Our favourite strange siren Yui Ga Dockson placed pretty low, in the band where members would have to eat something called “death sauce curry” - but she didn’t have to do that. Her punishment was a surprise for later~

Roll on 2018 and Gang Parade, now higher than ever, did the only thing you’d expect an idol group to do: new single and music video! Breaking the Road was here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRP-wmdG-fA

A continuation of their aggressive synth rock sound, Breaking the Road is high energy, fast paced… Everything you’d expect at this point! The music video also contains heartfelt messages from members in a serene beach setting~

The b-side to the single also received a video: Sushi Song! No guesses as to what it’s about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRTTvdrugQI

Meanwhile, back over in BiS, the girls were preparing for Pour Lui’s funeral graduation, marking the end of the trade between the two groups. Aya would go back to BiS, Saki would come back to Gang Parade and Lui would vanish into the ether. “WHOLE LOTTA LOVE” marked Aya’s comeback and “DiPROMiSE” heralded Saki’s departure.

So welcome home saki! The eight of clubs switched hands with the queen of hearts and gang parade continued on as their body and 7soul…

C’mon, this is a WACK timeline! Did you really think it would be that simple?

In march, the next WACK audition camp and exhibition took place. Various girls won and were placed into various groups. Gang Parade gained two new members: the gothic ice princess Usagi Tsukino and the 15 year old baby idol with a cute voice Haruna Bad Chiiiin! That’s four i’s in case you lose count!

There was also a contest which Can Maika lost so she’d have to change her stage name so! please welcome “Can GP Maika”. It’s not much of a punishment but hey, maybe cruelty can be matched with unusualness?

Just as they welcomed Aya with open arms, Tsukino and Haruna found their sisters instantly too. But not without a prank first, on their first day Dockson pretended to be an authoritarian leader with an iron fist! Sushio even drew fanart of it!

So what better way to introduce the new girls to their new fans than with a new single? A month later, “GANG 2″ dropped!

So from the bottom left we have Miki, Yuyu, Coco, Dockson, Yua, Haruna, Saki, Maika and Tsukino sitting in the bottom right.

GANG 2′s sound was closer to Beyond the Mountain than any of their more recent singles more aggressive sounds. It’s still got pounding synths and drum machines but it’s the kind of pounding that matches your heart and not your feet dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyaEby0Wu2U

The video depicts Saki as a holographic ghost who regains her physical form, rejoining Gang Parade after having been gone for so long.

The b-side recieved a video too: meet the slightly culturally insensitive love-letter known as “Lai Le”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB5hx0hkioE

Next up in June we finally get to Dockson’s “punishment”. While she didn’t win the election for the solo single, she was getting one anyway! “Now how is that a punishment” you ask? Well! It’s a throwback to the 90′s era of Japan’s eurobeat inspired techno-pop but with a twist! The lyrics are about being horny and involve chanting “HUGE COCK”. Also they made her wear ganguro makeup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CytBUpNV-k

Honestly? The song is good. It’s dancey and fun but I think it’s understandable why somebody wouldn’t want to get up on stage and hoot about getting busted in for about 4 minutes. Dockson even had to perform it live a few times, and during one special performance she bought a $1 magician’s wand off of Amazon that turns into a bouquet of flowers when you tug on it. Fans loved it and she hasn’t had to don the questionable makeup since!

The month after, more WACK clownery happened again. A new shuffle unit/supergroup debuted: The HOLY SHiTS! Thankfully the only gang parade girl they managed to torture with this was Maika. Though unluckily for her, the concept was “you have to eat fake excrement from a toilet while singing over a dance track that had a production budget of about $5″.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQpxOBB3ma4

It’s awful and we’re just going to pretend it never happened. Thanks.

August comes along, and it’s new single time once again. The anthem for going against the pain and continuing on even in bad circumstances! No, not the BiS song, Gang Parade got their own song with a similar theme: CAN’T STOP!

The music video shows our favourite body and 9soul pushing against a wall with their heads seemingly without any luck before the wall shatters and they all walk together, as friends, as one cohesive unit, as GANG PARADE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0pEQFo3y78

Gang Parade then embarked on their next tour, which ended with a tour final at Zepp Tokyo where they announced that they’d have a new album out in the first weeks of 2019: LAST GANG PARADE 

Of course, this name worried a lot of fans. Were Gang Parade breaking up? What did last mean? Was this Saki’s graduation? What was Watanabe up to? Many other fans pointed out that the “last” could be the “last” in “last night” or “last man standing” which quelled some fears, but fans continued to talk and gossip

And in-between the announcement and album release, the tour final was released as a special blu ray which included re-recordings of old songs with the current lineup. Saki took Aya’s spot on songs from “Gang Parade takes themselves higher!!” and of course the two new girls got their share too. And they finally chant “body and 9soul” instead of 7 in FOUL.

Now for a little detour… instead of Gang Parade we’re going to talk about you!

That’s right! Saki is more than aware that she has asobinin cheering from overseas! The first leader of a WACK group to acknowledge that she has English speaking fans. maybe she reads pretty pretty GANG~

However, she isn’t the first member. International asobinin managed to figure out that Coco uses a third party Twitter application to make private lists and a few lucky fans are more than likely on it, because she keeps liking tweets about her that don’t mention her by name that can be vanity searched and her tweets aren’t tweeted from a standard twitter app.  Coco even speaks a little English too! At a promotional live outside of a giant Gundam statue, Coco tried to engage with tourists by introducing Gang parade to an international audience in English. But, a member of the pretty pretty GANG fan community was there and the tourists… Were Spanish. Whoops! Thank you for thinking about us anyway Coco!

In the runup to Last Gang Parade’s release, a week of promo started with a surprise video drop: Yoru Kurai Yume (Night’s Dark Dream)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts8KnDkrrKI&

Written by Yua and Haruna, even with composition by Haruna, the song and video reference… Edo Period prostitutes! Do Haruna’s parents know what she writes about? The video even ebbs onto the more gravure side of idol, with minimal appearances from the GP girls in lieu of some genuine working girls on their walk around a red light district. A relatively laid back sound in contrast to the high energy they’re known for, the song is a standout on the album and unlike the rest of the promo tracks to come.

Over the course of the week, fast paced aggressive bops like “Jealousy Marionette” dropped in addition to emotional heart-pounders like “Message” on Soundcloud until New Year’s Eve… the video to LAST!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y932g_4QfOE

With motifs taken from primal. by BiS, LAST was set to become Gang Parade’s trademark song next to Plastic 2 Mercy. In a similar vein to Beyond the Mountain and CAN’T STOP, LAST deals with the struggle of moving forward against it all, making it clear that the “last” in “Last Gang Parade” is about how long you’ve lasted and how proud you should be.

With the girls all lifting each other’s spirits when things go wrong and generally playing together, the video is a heartwarming playground culminating in the phrase “making a new chaos” floating above them while they run around a football pitch.

And then a few weeks later in 2019, LAST GANG PARADE finally arrives proper

Gang Parade were closer as a sisterhood than ever, going from taking themselves higher to standing tall on a peak beyond the mountain. They were at the top of their game, one of the hardest working and strongest units under WACK.

But then… the second meaning of “LAST” finally came to light…

Just kidding! Not every surprise on behalf of Watanabe has to be awful!

On the first day of the ggWACK tour, a tour celebrating all of WACK’S major groups, Gang Parade announced that they were getting a MAJOR LABEL DEBUT! A sub label under Universal Japan created just for them: Fuelled by Mentaiko! Who says when you’re at the top the only way is down? Gang Parade were continuing to go higher and higher, they can’t stop. The “last” was also their last indie label release! As a surprise and a goodbye to T-Palette Records and their manager, the album contained a hidden bonus track called “PALET”

And that’s the history of Gang Parade! From a badly behaved cosplay duo stage diving over drum machine beats to a power-pop unit who trash the stage to a ragtag band of sisters here to incite a new form of chaos, the ashes of BiS’ legendary lineup had became something new entirely. 

Gang Parade refuse to stand in the shadow of another group, they cast their own and with their first major label single coming in April, Gang Parade will keep taking themselves higher and higher and HIGHER.

[james-titbeauteous-kirk]

Oh OH OH plug time - here are my multi-chapter ST ones, hopefully I can talk about more than one here. 

Back to Reality: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434181

TOS (never really said who or what, but it’s implied to be tas and that Kirk gets told he looks like a mix of a young Shatner and Pine.) The gang [Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Chekov] end up in a version of Earth in a city at the same time there is a sci-fi convention going on and discover that ‘Star Trek’ is a whole entire thing. After they hear about a Captain Kirk cosplayer being attacked on the radio, they all head off to the con to see what’s going on/figure why they are there; and then the story really gets going. 16/18 chapters done as I’m writing this, lots of meta comedy and a lot of tired Dr McCoy not wanting to deal with it all. 

The Disappearance of James T Kirk: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20919533

DIS/AOS-era (Kirk’s 19, the younger tos crew are teens and the dis ones that we see are adults), set in the late 60′s in rural Iowa, Kirk’s a troubled teen Spock’s a crash landed alien - yeah okay it’s just a 60′s first contact au with some DIS characters thrown in for good measure because I can. The story is also partly narrated by two people in the modern day doing a podcast about Kirk’s disappearance all those years ago who aren’t the best at their job. 13/27 chapters (might end up as 30+, not sure, it’s a long story) so far, the last one updated one has had them have their first kiss. A couple of car chases, both Kirk n Spock are messes and neither of them can speak the same language. 

Stranger Than [Fan] Fiction: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20709392

TNG, everybody is in a modern AU until Q shows up and explains that they’re actually not, and they’ve only really been there and in those lives for like, a week, at best. Picard is a uni lecturer, for example, and is currently in the process of writing a science fiction serial that turns out just to be TNG but like, copyright free. I’m only 4 chapters in and the story has just started, so it’s a little hard to explain it without giving too many spoilers. It’s mostly just Q being Q and everybody else being dragged along. It gets really meta. 

......Aaaaaand

Star Trek: Migaloo: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1496288

An OC series that I’m currently in the middle of writing/posting episode 2. It follows a ‘slightly’ rundown cargo ship operating in the 4010′s. Everybody is slightly out there and the focal character is an ensign who’s new to the ship (it’s actually his first time out of the Academy) - a Vulcan named T’Mau. Comedy-focused, lots of original aliens/planets and all original ocs. I started it all before LWDs was a thing but that’s not gonna stop me from just doing that sort of thing: but with my own ocs instead. 

If you’re a star trek (spirk >:)) fanfiction author and you wanna plug your fic or you just really like a fic and you want it to give it some deserved attention rb this with a link/title and author if you can! I Need New Fics and perhaps i can make a fic rec master list if there’s enough rbs and submissions and stuff >:)

[lokh]

I'm hoping to one day have a table at a con so I was wondering - what's it like when you do - do you get a lot of traffic, is it hard, is it more or less exciting than imagined - and what prepwork would you suggest (aside from the obvious: have stuff to sell)?

ive only been tabling for 3 years so im also working out what to do and what not do but ill do my best to help out!!

on traffic it really depends on a) where your table is b) the time of day and c) the day. i got situated just in front of a door the first year and that means a lot of people going by. the place tends to empty out whenever an event (eg cosplay comp) is on, so theres less traffic then, and more people show up on saturday than sunday (though i dont think this is necessarily tru anymore??? we got a lot of normies [for lack of better word lm ao] coming in on the sunday, im suspecting they were just walk ins and that by sunday most people kno smth is going on at the center so they can decide to pop in. this year there were those flight issues tho so maybe thats why sat was relatively empty)

i dont think that it is hard so much as it feels hard? especially ur first go around, therell be a lot of things u didnt expect and u will feel like u were ill prepared (eg theres no good way to get posters on weird fuzzy fascia board, ran out of change, nothing to roll up posters with, everything is a total mess under the table, accidentally ripping prints, ur stuff wasnt tacked down so a gust of wind blows everything......) but i think its to be expected!! its a learning experience and can be pretty fun in and of itself. tho ive also only shared tables, and that can definitely help out

umm im not the best person to ask about excitement levels tho lmao..,,,, personally im on high alert the whole time jic someone wants to buy something so theres not really any time to get bored. talking w ur tablemate is fun, i brought a guitar this year so there was that too (p fun to see ppl recognise songs =P) AND!!! the best part is seeing cosplayers tbh??? its great omg. also seeing people flip out over ur stuff, i think its p exciting but i guess it rly depends on the person?

PREPWORK:

FOOD

con food is super overpriced and ur sitting down for hours on end!!!!!! bring FOOD

write down expenses on production so u kno when ur breaking even

this one isnt necessarily prepwork but when ur actually tabling note down whats selling so 1) u kno how much money u got and 2) u kno which prints are selling! theyre a p reliable indicator of whats popular at the time 

TRY to print stuff early. arnd here everyone prints at the same place so about a week or two out from the con the place is all backed up

figure out how ur gonna carry all ur stuff in conjunction w how ur gonna get there

think of ur table layout? im not gr9 at displays etc so im still working on this, but its always a good idea to know how to arrange stuff as it does affect visibility and consequently potential purchases

familiarise urself w the con regulations ie when to show up n get ur ticket/lanyard and if u can try and make bump in times the day before. ur morning self will thank u especially if ur cosplaying

i dont have a lot of advice by the way of prepwork orz mostly bc it involves me throwing myself out of the house in a rush and arriving a whole hour late BUT thats what i got!!

hope it helps!

[ultraisabarrosmartins1978]

Filho de candidato a presidente da Argentina bomba como drag queen

Estanislao Fernández, filho de Alberto Fernández, candidato a presidente da Argentina que venceu o atual presidente Mauricio Macri nas primárias, tem despertado muito interesse da mídia local. Isso porque ele está bombando nas redes sociais como drag queen.

O filho do presidente assume o nome artístico Dyhzy para seu trabalho como drag. Ele tem 24 anos de idade, e afirmou à rádio argentina Formosa que começou a se montar logo após conhecer o mundo dos cosplayers, no qual se fantasiava de personagens de desenhos japoneses.

“Estava me relacionando com uma garota que fazia cosplay e comecei a me interessar. Foi assim que comecei a me fantasiar e, ao mesmo tempo, conheci o mundo das drag queens”, disse.

Dyhzy já tem mais de 60 mil seguidores nas redes sociais, e também coleciona fotos com outras drag queens internacionais, conhecidas por terem participado do reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”.

Veja mais imagens dela montada:

View this post on Instagram

God is a PUTO LOCO

– Foto por @fiesta.whip

A post shared by

D Y H Z Y

(@dyhzy) on Feb 19, 2019 at 12:52pm PST

View this post on Instagram

~

𝕳𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖔 𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖘

~ – – Hey bitches, hoy junto a @lady.nada estrenamos #MontateDarling a las 21:00HS en el canal de Youtube de Lady Nada

prepárense para 40 minutos de puro mamarracheo, montaje, diositud, plenitud, nervios, pelazos, actitud y #FANTASIA – – Pelazo de @naimadshop

Outfit de @naimad.ind

Foto por @nikiibitch

A post shared by

D Y H Z Y

(@dyhzy) on Feb 27, 2019 at 12:57pm PST

View this post on Instagram

P I C T U R E P E R F E C T F A C E

– Cosplay & makeup por mi Gracias a @naimad_01 por esta peluca soñada BEST PELUCAS DE LA REPUBLICA

Fotaza por los grosos de @otakunobaires en @argcomiccon diciembre 2018

A post shared by

D Y H Z Y

(@dyhzy) on Jan 13, 2019 at 1:29pm PST

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Sure you can handle me?

– –

Candy Cane Miss Fortune cosplay hecho por mí

–

Foto por @nathyleone

-

Pelazo de @lequeenar

A post shared by

D Y H Z Y

(@dyhzy) on Dec 20, 2018 at 12:48pm PST

Filho de candidato a presidente da Argentina bomba como drag queenpublicado primeiro em como se vestir bem

[findteenpenpals]

Have you seen him/her? The weird pen pal with tons of memes to share

HI THERE! My name is Jane, 17, from a tiny country in south east asia called Malaysia. I’m Chinese (PLEASE TAKE NOTE MY CHINESE SUCKS SO YEAH pls do not hit my insecurities ._.) and currently in the last year of my high school. Top 5 facts about me;

1) Heads over heels for anime, manga and cosplayers. My top fav anime/ manga are Maid-sama, Bungo Stray Dogs, Ao No Exorcist and Fairy Tail. Have a thing for psychological anime especially when it comes to murderous yet yandere anime guys 

2) Sucks at fashion. Please do not be shocked that I do not match my outfits properly and don’t even mention makeups. Sometimes I just wished I were a guy so I can wear the same T-shirt for like the whole goddamn week. And too cheapskate to buy makeups as I don’t really know how to use them and nobody invites me for hangouts *cries at corner*

3) Can be funny at times but sometimes I might erm make some lame jokes SO please please do not “wow haha so funny” I have feelings too okay ._. JUST A JOKE. I can be really bitchy at times and get annoyed easily but its ok .

4) Good listener. Not to pat myself on the back, I am willing to listen to your problems and give you my sincere opinions and it’s ok everyone face their own problems so I won’t judge you or anything UNLESS you’re a spolit brat that’s another story.

5) Prefers internet friends as I get more comfortable because no one will judge my outfits or anything. Like we can talk about anything at all (after we’ve gained each other’s trust) and no need to worry if you might spill the beans. And who knows that my real BFF might be here? 

My penpal can be from any country, race or sexualities and it would be best if we share common interests. If you are interested in my country’s culture, feel free to talk with me I will be happy to tell you about it :D

That’s all from me for now. And pls pls do not chat with me if you need nude pictures I’m a Tcup. 

email: littlejane24@rocketmail.com

[arredoval]

Stream recap so far from what I’ve been able to gather between about 5 peoples’ crises:

Hideous and disgusting pizza collab

Japan doesn’t know how to pizza

Instead of splurging on some chairs, they spent all their money on a hideous emperappy and thus all attendees had to sit on the cold, hard ground

Japanese cosplayers hate their tiny titties so much that they’ll make paper mache ones just so they can cosplay boobalicious costumes

Let’s celebrate the 30th anniversary by collecting points! How do you get points? SPENDING AC! CELEBRATION OF WHALES!

They named PVP sides “Blue Union” and “Red Union”, but they always refer to them as “ao team” and “aka team” during tourneys. Just stick to one name ffs

Many things they deliberately did not elaborate on and chose to cover up when it was being shown as if they didn’t really want us to know about it

Xiao grew up to be deuman Hyuga v2

Regius’ dead girlfriend is alive and looks like she’s 12

The setting of being ARKS who explore the universe and stop falzstuff is once again flushed entirely down the toilet in favor of yet more alternate/parallel universe nonsense because modern Sega doesn’t know how to make a story. There’s so many loose threads they could be elaborating on but fuck no, let’s keep riding the isekai train.

Hero class is vaguely defined for now at best, as gameplay exhibition is one blurry UI-less mess that tells almost nothing.

Devs are too big of wusses to just downgrade overall MPA size so they’ll just keep giving us non-12 quests.

Devs are too big of wusses to admit WB was a mistake and keep pissing with it and enemy stats and nobody knows what’s what anymore.

Stop acting like Chain Trigger being main class only is a GU nerf. That’s an everything-else nerf.

Forces are not allowed to be useful for bosses unless it’s zanverse or ilbarta. Compound techs get cooldowns.

WHO THE HELL NERFED SHUNKA WHILE I WAS GONE?!?!?!??! UNDO THAT SHIT!! SHUNKA BUFF! SHUNKA BUFF!!

I still hate fake enthusiasm as much as I always have. Japan is weird for loving this strange screaming into the mic.

Please stop making such disgusting pizza, it makes my italian stomach churn.